Mastery of the sport of figure skating involves mastery of the four basic ice-skate blade edges. The four edges consist of the outer edges with each foot and the inner edges with each foot. The mastery of these edges is reflected in the compulsory skating figures such as the circle 8, the waltz 3, the double 3, brackets, counters, rockers, loops, etc., and are basic for advanced skating such as free skating.
It is incumbent then upon the person desiring to be proficient in figure skating to practice circles with the four basic edges. The figure 8 is the most important figure since its mastery involves the use of all four edges.
Various devices, for the most part homemade, have been utilized in the past by skaters, to practice figure 8's . A problem arises with respect to these devices in that the height of the skater must be taken into account as the stroke length will be different for a 5 foot tall skater then a 6 foot tall skater. Most of these homemade devices have been tailor-made for a particular skater. Certain other devices have been made adjustable so that they compensate for the variation in the skater's height. However, most of these devices are crude, difficult to manipulate and not amenable to inexpensive mass production.
Another problem involves the making of a so called "toe-loop". At the outermost edges of the figure 8 is the location where the skater penetrates the circle, "loops" and goes back onto the circumference of the circle with the other foot. This is a most critical maneuver and the performance of the skater is judged as to the accuracy of the reentry on the other foot. In the past, a "trainer" would skate the traced figure 8 and make the "toe-loop" for the skater to practice on. Since the "toe-loop" is a function not only for the skater's ability but also of the length of the blades (the diameter of the "toe-loop" being about one and one-half times the length of the blade) not only does practice of necessity involve the making of the "toe-loop" by the "trainer" but also of a "trainer" with a similar blade length.
There is then a need for a skater's device which is readily adjustable for the skater's height and which when scribing incorporates a "toe-loop" proportional to the length of the skater's blade, tangental to the outermost edge of the circumference of each circle of the figure 8.